Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a technology that is being developed that will allow signals to be transmitted across different spectra. The focus is on indoor coverage, long battery life, low cost and many devices, hence the use of narrowband signals and the choice to allow these signals to be transmitted across several different existing spectra.
It is envisaged that these signals will be sent either in-band when the signals will use the resource blocks within a normal E-UTRA (evolved universal terrestrial radio access) carrier, in a guard band operation where the signals will be transmitted in the guard band of the E-UTRA carrier, or in a standalone operation when they will use their “own” spectrum, for example the spectrum currently being used by GERAN (GSM edge radio access network) systems as a replacement of one or more GSM (global system for mobile communication) carriers, as well as scattered spectrum for potential IoT deployment.
Wireless communication equipment is operated in a network of multiple communicating devices and is therefore designed to satisfy various interference requirements and in particular, to satisfy a requirement which sets an upper limit on the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) in order that leakage from one wireless communication channel should not reduce the capacity or throughput of another wireless communication channel by more than a certain amount, say 5%. Prior to sale and/or deployment a base station or network node should be compliance tested to ensure that the wireless communication equipment satisfies these emission requirements. Further tests on whether a receiver is able to successfully receive signals should also be performed.
Although different tests can be applied to the network nodes it would be desirable to provide a set of standardised test configurations (TC) that provide a reliable test that could be be used for such network nodes providing uniformity of approach.